Zen Boy & Karma Girl Who They Are And How They Came To Be. Release Date : 2006. Label: Independent. Rating: Unexpected. (Screw points. To each his own!) Before I even press play on this album, I will give my thoughts. Kudos to the album artwork idea, where it seems they got a bunch of different people to submit their artistic rendering of superheroes ZenBoy and KarmaGirl. I am at once curious and wary of what the album itself will be like though. The little tale on the back of the album claims them as folk singers. The photo of the pair (in their alter-ego human disguises) inside seems like it could easily support this. The tongue-in-cheek (I'd hope!) artwork, as well as the duo's moniker, leave me wondering how comprehensive this will be. We shall soon find out. Press play. Yeah, they really should rethink the outward image. This is a very competent, and actually rather nice, classic folk album. The first track, "Copy," is a little cut + dry, but the next track, "Two Monkeys," is beautiful. Far be it from me to shove album art into typicals or pigeon-holes or anything, but the balance between judging a book by its cover, and 'you only have one chance to make a first impression' is definitely at work here. I let this sit for a long time before listening to it because the cover art, while cute and fun, also got me to thinking it might be a hackneyed and juvenile album. Not so! "There Won't Be" is a peppy Irish pubstyle drinking song, and "Yeah Yeah" a couple tracks later is an equally chipper, harmonious venture into the gentle world of folk. I actually quite like this. It's pretty mellow, but charming, and not entirely too wimpy for my tastes. Song of choice : I'll still take "Two Monkeys." -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Zen Boy & Karma Girl website Published : January, 2007.